The decline of western civilisation
continues. Whilst visiting a modern family eatery
(I hesitate to use the word
restaurant) this week my wife and I engaged in our favourite pastime: people watching.
The eatery in question is
orientated towards a younger clientele but not overtly so and at 5pm there was a healthy spread across the demographic, young
couples, giggly teenagers, parents with young children and family parties. My seat gave me an unobstructed view of the door
and I could observe all who came and went during our meal, together with keeping an eye on our fellow diners.
This provided much material
for any amateur psychologists who happened to be out for tea but what struck me most was the sad appearance and disappointing
behaviour of the younger males. Where I come from manners must have been built in at an early age so that when the occasion
arose you would open a door and allow the other person through first, particularly if it was a woman or girl. Whilst at the
eatery I observed that without fail every lad who got to the door first passed through it without offering his girlfriend
or wife to proceed first. Sometimes I think I must be completely old-fashioned and out-of-touch or maybe simply unable to
shed basic facets of civilised western society but I think this is wrong. Manners maketh the man, someone once said and I
think there’s something in that, it doesn’t cost anything either. If we could start at the basic level and try
to build basic respect for others into everyday life we might stand half a chance of saving the human race from self-combustion.
The eatery definitely wasn’t
posh, more casual and relaxed so no dinner suites and cocktail dresses in evidence but come on, surely customers should make
a tiny effort to tidy themselves up before venturing out in public. Supposedly mature chaps in their trendy thirties and forties
were often the worst culprits, sloppily dressed in creased t-shirts, jeans and the inevitable white trainers. Dear-oh dear.
The youngsters can be forgiven (but even then their parents should be providing guidance) but there’s no excuse for
grown men. No doubt their BMW or Audi was buffed to a blinding sheen. It’s all down to basic standards; people seemingly
can’t be bothered.
I had a close encounter
with a white van on the M18 recently. He joined the motorway and dropped anchor approximately ten feet behind my rear bumper
at seventy miles per hour. I was overtaking a series of other vehicles in the inside lane so continued in the centre lane
while he just stayed doggedly on my tail like the red baron in World War One.
After a while I began to
think I must have done something to brass him off and his mega-close tailgating was an expression of his rage, but I definitely
hadn’t. I had already been in the centre lane as he had joined the motorway and there had been no incidents of any type,
just standard overtaking of slow-moving lorries in the inside lane.
After a couple more minutes
of rising apprehension on my part as he stayed glued to his position behind me, he slowly pulled over into the outside lane.
I braced myself for a radical manoeuvre, ready to stamp on the accelerator or brake in case he drew alongside with evil intentions.
Slowly the van drew level and I glanced up; no-one in the passenger seat aiming rude gestures at me, just the driver alone
in the cab and he wasn’t leering at me either. He was though (yes you’ve guessed it) on the phone. One hand was
on the wheel, the other clamping a mobile phone to one ear, totally oblivious to the world around him.
Leaving apart the passionate
debate about using mobile phones whilst driving my observation was that this bloke was concentrating so much on the conversation
he was having via the phone that he was blissfully unaware of his position on the road and how stupidly close he had been
behind me. Needless to say, having overtaken he then pulled into the inside lane and turned off at the next junction.
